Boo.com close to finding buyer

The liquidator for collapsed internet clothing retailer boo.com is close to securing a buyer, a spokesman for KPMG said. Several prospective buyers are in final talks with KPMG, which has still not ruled out breaking up boo rather than selling it as a going concern. A decision could be made later today.

'We are confident of selling but at this stage we can't say whether it will be in one go or whether the company will be broken up,' a spokesman said. 'The number of prospective buyers has reduced from the half dozen or so in the early part of this week, but, because they are entering a fairly sensitive phase, we cannot say how many buyers are still in the frame.'

KPMG is in a hurry to clean up the mess at boo.com, whose collapsed this month marked Europe's first big dotcom failure. The online sportswear retailer had spent much of the £80m it had raised from investors, and had just £500,000 in the bank when the liquidator was brought in.

KPMG has made 220 employees redundant and retained around 30 staff who are helping it in the potential sale of the business.

The biggest sufferer is Omina, an investment fund backed by members of Lebanon's wealthy Hariri family, which put around £25m in the company. Other investors include Sedco, believed to be backed by the Bin Mahfouth banking family in Saudi Arabia, Bernard Arnault, chairman of luxury goods group LVMH, the Italian Benetton family, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan. Creditors, most of whom are advertising agencies, are owed around £16m.